<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>set his fingertips on fire by orphan_account</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29053833">set his fingertips on fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Book 1: Water (Avatar), Book 2: Earth (Avatar), Book 3: Fire (Avatar), Eventual Zutara, F/M, Lots of Prose, Poems, Poetry, Zuko centric - Freeform, with a hint of zutara</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:14:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>346</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29053833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>it was agni, he swears, flame bursting from the cavity in his cheeks, his father’s fist hollowing out the pale skin around his eyes. / zuko throughout the books, implied zutara.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>set his fingertips on fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi not sure why i wrote this with all my other wips but here it is. hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>lately   he has been thinking of the ways a child breaks, brittle and<br/>        boneless,     how empty cracks resonate in fragile heads.   his uncle pours<br/>   bitter black tea<br/>        and tells him to not worry. the fumes of an ancient<br/>steam     boat seep like molasses into his lungs; should it be the<br/>fragrant perfume borne from his mother’s room,      poisonous palace air instead?    <br/>   glaciers break the surface tension.     his mother <br/>had kissed his forehead and <br/>                        fed turtleducks—    heads bobbed above the<br/>water     flows under his feet like he has been<br/>      swallowed by rivers. the<br/>girl of ice has broken visibly, her tired parka wrinkling,    pendant cold to the touch and<br/>             he wonders what perpetual winters have ever done to her. <br/>an admiral’s eyes glint from the sun. the man, the monster has not learned    how to<br/>  scream <br/>           properly, his hands still aflame,    his palms a scorch mark on the iron deck.<br/>                          the victor, the boy turns and his ancestors haunt him       <br/>                  at night.       paralyzing,      propane, making a<br/>   promise they will ignite him     the same way his sister’s laugh clouds his dreams. how<br/>                do you set a spirit on fire, his hands like swords, his <br/>face still smiling?       desperation unwinds the way    shirshu venom learns to still beasts. <br/>            north pole water burns the way<br/>  that is too deep, too familiar. he cries out, mouth<br/>         flooding with snow,     numb on his blue toes, blue blue blue,<br/>                 blue girl’s bright eyes telling him he has    bent in a way that is unforgivable to her. and<br/>         his uncle, pulling at a shard of wooden canoes;<br/>    the sun bursts<br/>             past the broken horizon. <br/><em>     it was agni, he <br/></em><em>            swears, flame bursting from the cavity in his cheeks,    his father’s fist <br/></em><em>       hollowing out the pale skin     around his eyes.<br/></em>not for the first time <br/>    he finds himself    in the fractured memories of the past.    him and his neighbor, their sallow faces<br/>               cut into tired ribbons,   dyed a tender blue. the<br/>last of the emergency tea has turned dark    like the ocean's sediment— he watches as a     <br/>                     prince, general, uncle, man<br/>     sighs and takes a sip. </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>